Pen and Ink Portraits.

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 34, 7 May 1881, Page 364

Pen and Ink Portraits.

No. 19— Mr. George McLean. Ministers are very often not the most remarkable men in the political party they represent. It is Avell understood that they are very often not the most honest. FeAV people expect them to be so. Some Ministers, like some babies, haA r e AA'et nurses. These political foster mothers as a rule regard their bantlings Avith great affection. If they, hoAvever, are destitute of affection and find that they are Avell paid for the care of their charges, they simulate the tenderness they pretend to feei.

In such a position to the Hall Government does the member for Waikouaiti stand. It is hard to determine Avhether he adopted the Cabinet, or whether the members of the Ministry placed themselves under his protection. Equally difficult is to be assured of the truth of the alternative if Ministers felt that they could not stand or Avalk aloue, or Avhether Mr. McLean, in his anxiety for their safety, constituted himself their baby-jumper. Thus in critical Ministerial moments the member for Waikouaiti looks after his charge Avith the same Avistfulness a hen regards a brood of ducklings essaying to s .vim. He religiously pairs. He votes Avith his party on all occasions. When they get one of their party in the Avater of strife he calls them to the <more ; when they say or do foolish things he chides them privately. Though he may castigate his charge he alloAvs no other person to reprove. He is a good tempered man. All the newspaper men like him— they are never hard upon him. In return he is always kind and courteous to their enquiries for news. Whether he may tell them Avhat they want to know is a different thing. There is one thing in his favour. He may mislead, or try to mislead them, hut he will not tell them an untruth. Many members of the House have not his regard for truthfulness. His kindness of disposition is reflected in his face. It generally wears a smile. No man in the Assembly laughs more heartily than he does, at himself, when another member "roasts " him. In most instances he seems to enjoy the process. At times, hoAvever— but very rarely — he " laughs the wrong side of his mouth." The cachination is not visible, but there is pain in the face. The gusto with which he laughs at the discomfiture of another reminds one of the Avicked proverb " There is something pleasing in other men's misfortunes." He has one bete noir in the House — the member for Port Chalmers. If Mr. Macandrew asserted that Satan was horned, Mr. McLean .vould sAvear that he was polled. Why this should he the case is very hard to tell. Some unkno .vn and unseen gulf separates them. It may he a clan feud for all the public know, hut it is apparent on all and eveiy occasion. Mr. McLean has not heen gifted .vith a pleasing voice. Yet it

is musical Avhen compared Avith Murray's. He is sloav in speech. He is not a man of ideas, in fact they are scarcer than his words, Avhich are f eAv. He has a Scotch accent coming from a Scotch face. He has one infallible test for every question. Principles are out of his line, over his head, beneath his feet. The crucial ordeal for all things is, "How Avill it suit George McLean." He married .veil. He Avould have been nothing .vithout his Avife, her money, and connections. She made Yogel make him a Minister. Yogel had a motley crowd at different times in his Ministries, but McLean Avas the most uncouth of the lot. He seemed more Scotch when he Avas first married than he now appears. Marriage has rubbed the angles off the surface of his character and manner, lio seemed at that period to be coA r ered Avith bristles, Avhich have since disappeared. They have been stubbed, not pulled out. The roots still remain. Whether Madam shaves the bristles regularly is of course a marital secret. His Avife Avas tlie daughter of tlie Hon. Matthe av Holmes, Avho lives at Oamaru. She put his manners as .veil as his body into dress clothes. They are as uncomfortable to him, ho ,ye as tight boots to the man Avhose feet are covered Avith corns. She made him presentable in society as Avell as a member of the Ministry. It Avas not a hard task for a Colonial girl to lick a raw Scotchman into shape ; the dear creatures like the " licking " process when they like the man. In the same manner as a serpent covers the object of his capture Avith saliva before devouring it, Avill a Avoman at times, before she even marries a man, go through tlie process of licking to render the man easier to digest. We find Geordie McLean, as some people call liim, Commissioner of Customs on July 3rd, 1876, Avhich office he held until September lst of the same year ; the Yogel being then succeeded by the Atkinson Ministry. The first Atkinson Ministry .vas very short-lived surviving only about the time puppies after birth remain blind. During these twelve days he held the offices of Commissioner of Telegraphs and Customs, combined with that of Postmaster-General. The retirement of Mr. Donald Reid from office necessitated the reconstruction of the Atkinson Ministry, and in the neAV - formed continuous Ministry Mr McLean held the three offices aboA r e mentioned until the Grey party came into poAver in October, 1877. Thirteen montlis in office does not make a man "Honourable" for life — an ambition said to be one of the Aveaknesses of the member for Waikomiti. Hence, Avhen the last Agent-General Avas appointed Mr. McLean Avas in Wellington engaged in the task of advising the Ministry, the wicked people saying that he AA r ould haA r e liked the appointment for himself in order to obtain the Companionship of St. Michael and St. George. lam inclined, hoAvever, to believe the assertion to be a calumny, as Mr. McLean could hardly guide his cliarges in the paths of safety by Avire from Europe. There Avas very little for Mr. McLean to do Avhile he Avas in office, and that little the permanent head of the department did for him. He Avas a safe mau for Atkinson to appoint. He would kick o . r er no traces ;he Avould do what he Avas told to do ; he Avould try no experiments ; he never interfered with the Civil Service ; he Avas loyal to his party, and Avould defend their actions to the best of his ability. He Avould read over an elaborately-prepared schedule of statistics compiled by the Treasury to prove anything that was Avanted to be proved, in the hope of causing a diversion in the discussion of an a ..'kward question. His Avife, hoAvever, .vas more A^aluable to the party than himself. She gave entertainments and cajoled men. Yogel employed women to secure and maintain majorities, and his successors folloAved in his footsteps. She was a strong party woman. Thus the story runs, that when her husband came for his better-half in the ladies' gallery after the defeat of the Grey Government, she threAV her arms around her lord's neck and said audibly, "Thank God, dear, we have beaten them at last !" The story carries an inherent germ of probability, as women will thank God for anything that pleases them, Avhether the cause of their thanksgiving be meritorious or not. It is from this characteristic of theirs that they obtain the reputation of being more devout and more religious than men. Having been connected with the Bank of NeAV Zealand, Mr. McLean has become con- ! nected Avith the Colonial Bank. He is the managing director of that institution, as well as of the Union Steamship Company. We never made application for his good services to get a good bank overdraft, so cannot say hoAv his pulse Avould beat under such circumstances, but can testify, although not from personal experience, that he uses his position as manager of the Union Company veiy kindly toAvards the men of the Press. No newspaper man that he knows and esteems, when hard up, applies to him for a free passage in vain ; and yet he only shows his wisdom in making friends with his goose-quil brotherhood. There are many Avorse men in the Assembly than George McLean. Koneke.